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LETTERS 



ADDRESSED TO THE FRIENDS OF 




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4t H A M P D E N." 

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE NEW YORK "EVENING POST.' 



Tins Pamphlet can be procured at the Rooms of the Young Men's Fremont and 
Dayton Central Union, Stuyvesant Institute, New York. 

Wm. 0. Bbtaut & Co., Printers, 41 Na»sau street, cor. Liberty, New Tprfc. 









61S05 
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LETTERS, BY "HAMPDEN," 



INTRODUCTION. 

The following letters, entitled "FREEDOM vs. SLAVERY," are from 
the nen of J. B. Jervis, Esq., well known to the whole country for his import- 
ant achievements as a Civil Engineer. The first of these letters, it will be ob- 
served by its date, was published during our canvass for State Officers in 1855, 
when Mr. Jervis was himself running as the candidate of the Democratic party 
for State Engineer. Had Mr. Jervis felt at liberty to avow the authorship of 
that letter at the time, and to have made a public expression of the principles 
he entertained, he would .have been elected ; but he was unwilling to take any 
step which might appear to be disloyal to the convention or party to which he 
had allowed the use of his name. — Editors Evening Post, Sept. 20, 1856. 



FREEDOM vs. SLAVERY. 

From the Evening Post, September 20th, 1855. 

To the Editors of the Evening Post: 

Gentlemen : Having been for many years a reader of the Evening Post, and believing 
it strongly attached to the principle of democratic freedom, I have ventured this com- 
munication on the present aspect of our political affairs. 

No reflecting mind,, attached to freedom, can be indifferent to the influences that now 
threaten the principles of democracy. 

Slavery and freedom are antagonistic. It is impossible that they can harmonize. Their 
object and interest are adverse to each other, and they work accordingly. Civil and 
political freedom secures to individuals the right and dignity of labor, and thereby opens 
the field for every honorable employment that promises the promotion of private inter- 
est and happiness. In this condition the energy cf the individual man leads him to pro- 
secute every laudable enterprise and industrial pursuit that offers beneficial results. 
And as national growth and prosperity are but the aggregate of individual effort, it ne- 
cessarily follows that whatever best promotes individual enterprise, best promotes na- ' 
tional growth. 

The labor of a freeman is better directed, more active, and its results more frugally 
cared for, than that of a slave. This is too obvious to need discussion. The state, there- 
fore, must suffer in its growth and prosperity when its labor is performed by slaves. The 
only party benefitted by slavery is the slaveholder. All other portions of citizens and 
the state at large suffer. The history of our country abundantly proves this. 



The citizens of a slave state, other than the slaveholders, suffer in caste. The free 
laborer in a slave state, though white, is regarded as a degraded man. hardly holding the 
respect of a slave. Here a serious blow is struck at an essential principle of freedom, as 
no great degree of political freedom can be enjoyed in any state where labor is not re- 
spected. In vain do we inquire : What institutions are established in slave states, to 
promote the education and improvement of free laborers? 

Id our slave states the African is doomed the slave. Thus far, no effort has been made 
to bring laboring white men under the direct yoke of the task-master. They hold a no- 
minal freedom, with the low estate of a degraded caste, that shuts up nearly every par- 
ticle of laudable ambition. The mechanic rises a little higher than the laborer. The 
merchant takes the next step, and the professional man ascends to the next above him, 
the slaveholder being on the top, looking down upon and governing all the rest. 

In a slave state, property will mainly be controlled by slaveholders; hence they give 
the tone to business and enterprise, and, as must be expected, they act as a united body 
in all matters of business and politics that affect their interest as slaveholders, and find 
it no difficult thing to control all the other castes of their society. This is manifest from 
the history of the slave states of this country. In round^numbers, the slaves, in the ag- 
gregate of all the slave states, are about half the number of free persons — and of the free 
persons, about one in fifteen are slaveholders. It may appear singular, that in a country 
claiming to have free government, bo small a proportion should completely control their 
political condition, and shape to their own purpose every measure that enures to the be- 
nefit of the one in fifteen. 

So far we have regarded slavery as a state affair, and its influence on the (technically) 
free men in 6lave states. If such, imagining themselves free, are content to bo subser- 
vient to the interest and dictation of one-fifteenth of their number, we in the free states 
must leave them to their choice — and let us no more wonder at the maintenance of aris- 
tocratic power in other countries, where the few govern the many and bring them into 
subordination to their interests. It is the result of decided unity of action, always prompt- 
ed by self-interest, and never fails to make all other questions subservient to the main 
object. 

If submitted to a vote, under circumstances to admit an expression of real sentiment, 
there is no doubt a large majority of the citizens in the states of Delaware, Maryland, 
Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri, and probably others, would decide for freedom, and the 
abolition of slavery in those states. Although the slaveholders are small in numbers, 
their power is so great that rarely a man, in a slave state, except one of themselves, 
can be found bold enough to utter a wor in favor of freedom ; and there is no leading 
interest to form the basis of combined action, mless it be the love of freedom, and this is 
not strong enough in the slave states to secure unity of action, and hence all but slave- 
holders submit to be a degraded caste. 

But we have demonstration of the power of slaveholders in their political action beyond 
the limits of their own states, and it is this we desire mainly to examine. 

The slave states (in round numbers) contain six millions of (technically) free popula- 
tion, and the free states seventeen millions, or nearly three to one. In the general 
government, the small body »f slaveholders control public affairs so completely that a 
tide-waiter, a deputy-postmaster, no loss (except in degree of importance) than a judge 
of the Supreme Court, or a foreign minister, must subscribe to the policy and measures 
of the slaveholder, in order to secure his appointment, even in a free State. To such ex- 
tent is this carried, that a man's democracy is declared forfeited, and he is declared an 
enemy of the Union and constitution, if he fails to maintain that democracy and slavery 
are synonymous terms. 



In former days slavery -was regarded as local, dependent on State laws and confined to 
State limits. Now, the constitution of the general government, (where the -word slave 
does not occur,) is claimed to be the very guardian of slavery, and that if it does not 
support the present condition and all the extension the slaveholders desire, it is not 
worth preserving and must go down. In plain language, the union of these States 
must be broken up, unless the slaveholders (about one in forty of the people,) can have 
their own way. The people of these States, if the slaveholders' view is correct, must 
have been under a great delusion, in supposing they lived under a constitution formed 
to maintain the principles of freedom. 

Whatever may be the authority of the constitution, it is clear that those holding at 
this time the government, regard it as their most essential object, to administer to the 
support, extension and perpetuation of the slaveholders' interest. At first, this appears 
strange, that in a country professing to be free, so small a portion of its citizens should 
control the mass of population. But it only proves the power of united action. This 
unity draws other interests to co-operate with the slaveholder. Politicians of the free 
States see the strength of this body of united men, and for the emoluments of political 
power join the slaveholding party, prove false to their constituents and their professions, 
and strive to hide the real character of their delinquency by false and plausible issues, 
coupled with bold professions of democracy, while they are undermining the very foun- 
dations of freedom. 

Men in all kinds of trade desire to be on good terms, and not to hazard the chances of 
business ; there will be no small number in this class that will not hazard this to secure 
so remote a thing as political freedom appears to them, and therefore throw their 
influence into the slaveholders' party. Then there are many men who have no direct 
object of politics or trade, that regard the institution of slavery as conservative, and de- 
sire that it may be extended as a check to democracy ; they have a dread of political 
power in the masses of men. It is abundantly evident that the slaveholders' party, 
from the sources mentioned, can rely on a powerful .auxiliary force ; and we deceive our- 
selves if we suppose they are not powerful. They have already become so impressed 
with the consciousness of their strength as to claim their peculiar views to be a test of 
democracy, and even of the stability of our government. 

Active politicians in the free States, who have been grown and nurtured by the demo 
cracy, and some of them to gray hairs, are among the most zealous advocates for the 
union of democracy and slavery. They enter into all the slaveholders' schemes, whether 
they proceed on constitutional claims or by lawless violence, against all that freedom 
holds dear, or by the incarceration of an untried and innocent citizen ; and all in the name 
of democracy, claimed intones of vociferated language. No artifice do these men leave 
untried to convince the masses that this is the true democracy. But this is no new arti- 
fice in struggles to destroy freedom. The color and authority of names has always been 
powerful. Democracy is a name endeared to the mass of men in the free States, and 
hence the enemies of freedom will claim it as their standard so long as they may be able 
to practice the deception on the people, and lead them to use their efforts to destroy the 
principles they cherish, and so establish the slaveholders' power, at the expense of 
freedom. 

At the present time, the southern or slaveholding party rules these States. In this rule 
they have taken bold measures ; they threaten to destroy the Union, if they cannot have 
their way. They are bold, and timid people are fearful of their threats, and do what 
they can to resist opposition to their plans ; and it is a matter of great concern, whether 
there can be any efficient action to secure the principles of freedom against the combined 
elements that now threaten to undermine them. It is not the freedom of the African race 



6 

that is now under rtiscnwdon ; it is the freedom of the whites, that will be further en- 
croached upon, if the slaveholders' party continue to hold the power of the government 

ost be ao sectional party at the North. It will be dangerous — 
the slaveholders' party at the South, now in the aseend- 
icting party at the North. It is not proper or 
■ interfere with the j>. the slave States, as to their internal policy; 

f the North have- :i right to maintain the principles of freedom, if 
they I i at question is, will they make the necessary 

We Bee there are mi a in the c r nat political parties who court the slaveholders' 
and in various ways, especially by conventional proceedings, either boldly go over 
i" sla mother their position, as they deem necessary, to deceive their con- 

stituents. 

AVI. - of men see the lull bearing of this slavery question, there will 

be no doubt of the result. Then the political sophistry, now so ingeniously thrown 
the people, will be scattered ; and they will not submit to be a degraded caste 
when they realize they are controlled and governed by a small body of slaveholders. 
This i now the case with the non-slaveholding whites in the slave States; and in so 
much as relates to the general government, it is the case with every non-slaveholder in 
the United States. 

Already this influence i~ felt in the free State governments. Recent events have de- 
ed this, in a measure, that thirty years ago would have produced an insurrection. 
No i lligent mind, imbued with the love of freedom, can survey the present 

politi. . of our country, without feeling deep alarm. And still it is evident the 

mind of our people general! . ill, appreciate our condition. As yet, it has not 

dislm' . the pursuits of business, and men are everywhere full of ac- 

tisitv, and absorbed in individual enterprise. It is the policy of those who, in the free 
perate with the slaveholding party, to maintain the impression that we, in 
the fi have no interest in the question of Slavery. If they can maintain this 

impression a few years longer, their power, now ruling the country, will be concentrated 
rengthened to such a degree, that the friends of freedom may awake too late. 
The government is the organized power of a country, and all history shows the supe- 
riority of its efficiency over voluntary effort. It conducts affairs with system — brings 
to its aid strong interests, and usually holds the timid in co-operation or neutrality. We 
have sufficient evidence of this. If a fugitive slave is to be captured, the effort of every 
of the government is speedily in aid. But a band of armed men invade a free 
territory under the special charge of the government, drive the election judges from their 
itimidate them, and the legal electors are driven from their rights by vio- 
lence, ition is aroused in the free States by these attacks, which break up 
th" v ry foundations of free government; and yet, the only action of the government has 
the officer who remonstrated against the outrage. It is not worth while 
to complain of the auxiliaries to interest in the free States ; they act on the 
same basis of self-interest as do the slaveholders, it is the ~ame as in all o abinations to 
ratic or strong governments — the object being to render the many sub" 
few. 
ire. '.in, or what we understand to be a government that maintains equal political 
ha 1 :■. long reign in any age or any country. Our country has had 
yed of maintaining it to a good old age, and may still 
hold t '. if tie- power and influence oJ Slavery can 1- confined to the Slave 
.p. -lied to hold, in the federal government, an influence only 



equal to their representation. This will be the ease when it is no longer necessary for a 
man in the free States, in order to obtain the appointment of deputy-postmaster, to pro- 
claim his allegiance to the slaveholders' policy. This is the point — How shall the free 
States regain their equality, and hold their just influence in the general government? 
Not certainly by any proceeding to interfere with the constitutional rights of the Slave 
States. "We do not object to the appointment of slaveholding postmasters in the Slave 
States ; but we have a right to ask that all local officers and agents of the general 
government in the free States shall have the right of holding the sentiments of freemen. 
If we cannot do this, we have no claim to the title. 

It is obvious the slaveholders are now the basis of an aristocracy, already bold and ex- 
acting, that must, if not checked, subvert the long cherished principles of individual free- 
dom in this country. Can they be checked ? A question of deep importance. They will 
gather additional forces by time ; more auxiliaries will be found, and to defer the struggle 
will increase its intensity. 

In regard to the means of the free States to make successful resistance to the Slave 
party, it is well to consider the difficulties ; for it has been well said, the price of liberty is 
eternal vigilance. The struggles of freedom have always been attended with discordant 
views among its friends. In its ranks are found the ultra men, ardent and uncompromis- 
ing, unwilling to do a little good, and usually wasting their strength in an impracticable 
reaching after objects that fail to secure the co-operation of the prudent friends of the 
cause. 

Men who have long acted and been identified with the democratic party, considering 
democracy as expressing the very element of freedom, and as necessarily hostile to every 
form of aristocracy, are slow to believe that any party acting under the name, can be used 
to subvert the fundamental principles which the term implies ; and, doubtless, large num- 
bers of them will feel so much repugnance to acting with any other organization, that they 
will linger in their old ranks, even against their own convictions ; and though decided 
friends of freedom, will be slow to see that a name they hold in veneration is perverted, to 
destroy the very object its name imports. 

Other political parties will have more or less tenacity of attachment to their own 
organization and peculiar issues, and will be slow to see the propriety of uniting with 
others in order more effectually to resist a great evil, which concerns, in an eminent de- 
gree, the interest of the masses in all political parties in the free States. For if the cur- 
rent of freedom cannot flow securely in the free States, their party organizations will be 
of little avail. 

There are numerous friends of freedom who do not see its danger in a degree sufficient 
to lay aside for the time other issues that are comparatively of little importance, and 
these will be adroitly urged, and cause more or less division on the great question of 
political freedom. It is clear much embarrassment must be felt in forming such an organ- 
ization as will secure power to check the united action of the slaveholders' party. It is, 
believed however, these embarrassments will be overcome, and that there is sufficient 
appreciation of the principles of freedom, by the mass of men in the free States, to sur 
mount all impediments, and successfully resist the encroachments of the slaveholders' 
party. 

It cannot be that we have been so much mistaken in the intelligence of the free States, 
as to justify the belief that they will submit to the violent and judicial encroachments of 
the slaveholders' party on their rights, and thus receive the chains that are ready to 
clasp their liberties. We may properly sympathise with the enslaved African ; but we 
are now too much concerned to secure and maintain our own freedom. If we fail, as a 
people, to see through the misty sophistry that selfish politicians and others interested in 



8 

co-operation with the slaveholders' party are now throwing around this subject, we shall 
B unworthy of the boon, and American freedom must take its place among 
other great failures of the promising efforts that have, for a time, encouraged the 
hopes and raised high the expectation of progress in the great field of human rights. 

gerous things, when they are used to belie their signification and destroy 
the principles of their true definition. Let us not be deceived, but bear in mind that the 
thing the mesa of oar people desire, is the maintenance of civil and political free- 
dom; and Lei DO other bane interfere with the security of this great object. The place- 
men will stand aside when the people assert their rights, and show that they are not to 
be deluded by the name " democracy," sounded by the lips of false men, who use the term 
as an instrument to prostrate its principles. Hampden. 



FREEDOM vs. SLAVERY. 

[From the Evening Post, September 9, 1856.] 

Since my first number, published in your paper 20th September, 1855, events have 
occurred eminently calculated to interest the friends of freedom, both in this country and 
elsewhere, as to the final result of the great experiment we are making to establish and 
maintain the principles of just and equal government — principles in which the masses of 
men, and all who delight to contemplate the highest progress of human society, have a deep 
interest. 

I am fully aware of the impression that very extensively prevails among our citizens, 
that we are in no danger of sacrificing these principles. "We have been long accustomed 
to look at slavery, as it existed in the slave States, to be a matter that no way concerned 
us, or involved us in any danger of its consequences being introduced in the free States. 
The institution of slavery, as it exists in the slave States, we in the free States claim no 
right to interfere with by any political action whatever. But we insist on the right of discus- 
sing the subject of slavery as it affects the principle of freedom — and the propriety of its 
extension into free territory. If the spirit of slavery is hostile to the principle of freedom, 
then we cannot too carefully restrain its power to the States that have adopted it, and 
prevent encroachment on the rights of the free States. The element of slavery is hostile 
to the principles of a sound democracy. This has recently been manifested by events 
that cannot be mistaken. If free speech and a free press be destroyed, freedom is lost. 
It was a cardinal point in Jefferson's creed, " that error might be tolerated, reason being 
left free to combat it." How is this principle carried out in the slave States ? Do the non- 
slaveholding white population enjoy free discussion ? Dare any man in the slave States 
discuss the right or expediency of slavery, in its political bearing, in any way adverse to 
the interests of the slaveholders ? The case of Underwood, of Virginia ; the attempt to 
get up a Republican meeting at "Wheeling ; the case of an eminent clergyman in South 
Carolina, and numerous other instances, afford the answer. A public meeting is called to 
honor a representative in Congress; a clergyman does not consider it proper to sanction, 
by his presence, an act of violence, that could not be justified on the basis of propriety, 
right, or civilization; and holding (as may be iuferred) the opinion of Jefferson, that if 
any error had been committed, it should have been reserved to reason, and Dot the club 
to Correct it ; for this he is driven from the State I ! 

well km '.wi that Jefferson was jealous of the judiciary — an arm of government, 
that in other countries had greatly baffled the efforts for freedom. Bj long foresight 

be slaveholders have brought the officers oi (he United S 
court-* under their inflin ace. In DO part of the country, slave or free, has il been prac- 



ticable to obtain the appointment of a man, who is not known to be right, in the slare- 
holders' view, on the question of slavery. The dexterity with whicli courts fiud law and 
pleas to do what they like, ia proverbial : courts of law are a dangerous foe to liberty 
when they have an interest to 6erve against it, and that interest the appointing power. 

It has already been held by a branch of the United States Court, that a slaveholder 
from a slave State may travel or make temporary sojourn with his slaves, for business 
or pleasure, in a free State, notwithstanding any laws of the free State to the contrary. 
Let this point be once established, and it will be an easy step to hold as the constitu- 
tional right of a slaveholder to go with his property of slaves, and make permanent loca- 
tion in any free State. ' Then he must be allowed to sell his property ; and if slavery is a 
good thing, the African slave trade must be opened. Let it not be supposed that this is 
a far-fetched idea of danger. Power is progressive, and its votaries never relinquish their 
efforts to strengthen their peculiar interests. The Constitution is good for them, when it 
answers their object, and when not, force is the resort. The great point now aimed at by 
the slaveholding interest, is the full control of the General Government, and the means 
to perpetuate that control; to centralize the General Government ; to concentrate its 
power, and hold the State governments in chock ; and gradually, but surely, control 
their action in all matters that affect the interest of the aristocracy that now seeks to con- 
trol our institutions — a line of policy that our early democratic fathers were exceedingly 
jealous of. Is it safe that they hold that control ? This is a question of absorbing interest 
to every friend of freedom, and it is a cheering aspect that so many are beginning to dis- 
cuss it, irrespective of the trammels of party. It is breaking up old party lines, and 
drawing the just distinction between profession and principle. — Between those who 
slander candidates and hide their real object by cunningly devised sophistry, and those 
who struggle for the great principles of freedom. "Perpetual vigilance" now as ever, 
" is the price of freedom " 

We are now on the eve of a general election, excited by the hostility of the general 
government against the freedom of Kansas Territory, as manifested by its countenance of , 
and acquiescence in forays that have spoiled the ballot-box, destroyed the presses of the 
free State men, burned their habitations, plundered the property, imprisoned and murder- 
ed them, and all for the crime of espousing the cause of freedom. Who are the 
parties organizing for the contest ? The Buchanan democrats have for their basis the 
slaveholders ; so decided are the slaveholders for them, that few, if any, slave states are 
expecting to have a ticket for the Republican candidates. A large portion of the old 
leaders in the northern democracy have gone over to the slaveholders, and hope to carry 
some of the free States by the prestige of the name. To these are added, from other 
parties, all the aristocratic members, some of whom have repudiated the Declaration of 
Independence, and doubtless, had they lived at the time of the Revolution, would have 
been horrified with the conduct of such men as George Washington, John Hancock, 
Samuel Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry and their associates. It must not be 
forgotten that Jefferson and his compatriots regarded slavery as dangerous to freedom, 
and our history has confirmed their apprehensions. 

We have alw r ays had a large aristocratic force in the free States, who have had no confi- 
dence in the principle of freedom, and who most naturally fall in with the policy of the 
slaveholder, as calculated to control the masses of northern freemen. The accession of these 
is hailed with satisfaction by the Buchanan democracy as strengthening their ranks and 
their cause. The northern democratic leaders most prominent in this party are, many of 
them, known to be men of aristocratic leaning, (sighing that they had not been born in 
Virginia or some other slave state, where they could not be held accountable to the 
masses,) who have espoused democracy for the emoluments, and not for any love of the 



10 

principle. This must be obvious to any who have observe*! their evolutions since 1848. 

Ami it is DO new thing that the escutcheon and insignia of freedom should be boldly 

worn: f breaking it down. Bnt this cannot endure — slavery and de- 

., i are two 1 each other; one must have the ascendancy. 

imary, the basis of the Buchanan democracy is, first : All the slaveholders; and, 

I, all the aristoa all parties in the free States; to which must be 

added the real democrats that will be deceived by their hah:-", and their veneration lor 

ameand the old usages ofthe I who will leave this aristocratic association 

the real object through the gauze of sophistry that still holds 

them in subjection to a party that is hostile to democratic freedom. 

Who are the democratic republican party I The men who d<-.-ire the progress of man- 
kind by the establishment of just, equal and rernment — who honor 
labor . I man— who desire to hold the gem r .1 government to its true con- 
stitutional duties and obligations, ami tin- un i the indivi- 
dual states — who have no purpose to interfei v. be in the exercise of its con- 
stituti<>n.il rights — who desire to maintain this Union without the loss of freedom, and 
v, h.> a hering from all the old political parties of the country, the sound and bv 
greal principles of democracy, a the American 
fathers of freedom. Tl ind to be mosl numeroi our raral population, 
habits of | rate the sophistry and mis- 
representation of thi . an democrat 

Tin its oi the two great parties that now are preparing for the canvass. 

The Fillmore party it is not worth while to follow, as it is merely an ingenious device of, 
the Blave democracy to divide the free States, and it is immaterial to freedom whether 
Buchanan orFilln d, they are both on tb form in regard to the great 

issue that now calls for the . on ofeverj lover "i bis country. 

To free labor, and itt honorable position in the t we thai Bpirit of enter- 

prise and intelligenl cultivation that has carried forward thesi es with a progress 

in mental, social, religous and material improvement, that is unparalleled in the history of 
the world, shall we now abandon the principles tl at have been the basis of our pros- 
perity, and which constitute our own and the world's hope of human progress J Shall we 
now fail to see the true issue on which our country's prosperity and happiness depends, 
and allow the Btealthy march of despotic power to undermine and subvert our birthright, 
and hand us over to 'the care of an oligarchy and its auxiliary northern aristocrats? 
shall it be proved that our laborers, fa hanics and merchants are incapable of 

exercising the functions of government, and must submit to be governed by a class calling 
themselves " the chivalry," a designation (applied originally to better men) ban. led down 
from the dark ages of civil and ecclesiastical despotism! Heaven, in infinite mercy, 
deliver us!! Mem dom ! let the temper of our Revolutionary Fathers arouse us, 

to maintain the precious boon of tired. un which they gave ! ! We have deeper wrongs 
than tb. y to call US to action. The laws they resisted were mild in comparison to those 



ipledgt 

to Kansas; for it isaroundtb and by piece-meal that the enemies of freedom will 

W ork, and 1 father the folds of despotic rule, until all is finally subdued ; and 

it w j'n be ■■ ' if we do not regard the fii bment on our distant fallow- 

citizens as an attack on ourselves. 

To sustain the position 1 have taken, 1 appeal to our history, and especially the last 
three years of it ; which no intelligent lover of freedom can tail to Bee, is puttin 

m imminent danger, and calling on US to put oil" all lethargy — to 
b uc k!. I freemen, i fch to the ballot-box, as 1 trust we shall, a 

host that will cheer the hearts of freemen in this land, and echo to other lands that we 

are determined to be free. 

Hampdxh. 



11 

FREEDOM vs. SLAVERY— DISSOLUTION OP THE UNION. 

[From the Evening Post, Sept. 20, 1S56.] 

For more than twenty years we have had reports that the Union of these States was 
in danger of being dissolved. At times the reports have assured us the danger was im- 
minent, and would certainly follow the occurrence of threatened events. "We have lived 
a quarter of a century through these dangers, and shall probably survive many years 
yet. At one time a small state of this confederacy became so impatient for dissolution 
as to require a check from the power of the Union. Since that time no practical result 
has followed the threatened danger, except what was produced on weak nerves. Men 
of sense have generally regarded such rumors as emanating from some selfish motive, 
and having strong confidence in the strength of interest and duty to control men, have not 
been much disturbed at the sounds of alarm we occasionally hear. At this time there 
appears an unusual amount of alarm, and we propose to search for the parties and the 
cause of our present danger. Of course, if we are guided by experience, we must look 
into the political world, as the danger has never come from any other quarter. 

The union of thirteen free and independent states into one confederacy, so organized 
that each state should be free to conduct its internal affairs, while the general confede- 
racy should exercise its protecting care over the whole, with such powers as would pro- 
tect from foreign aggression or domestic insurrection, combining strength for general 
defence, and harmony for the states, was a work of vast grandeur, promising the most 
beneficent results for the great experiment in free government, and should be watched 
over with sleepless vigilance, by ourselves and every friend of human progress. 

At this time, it is charged by their opponents, that the Democratic Republican party 
are desirous to promote a dissolution of the Union. Is there corroboration of this grave 
charge by any authority of this political party? The platform _ adopted by them in 
convention, when they made their nomination of candidates for President and Vice-Presi- 
dent, is unequivocally in favor of maintaining the Union, and the unrestricted integrity of 
the individual states. The candidates, on accepting the nomination, approved the plat- 
form and pledged themselves to its principles. In the numerous conventions that have 
been held by this party, I have seen no proposition to depart from the basis of the plat- 
form, as laid down by the general convention. Nor, in any way, have I been able to dis- 
cover authoritative expression of this party, that could justify the charge against them. 
In the absence of any positive proof, we must see what, if anything, there may be, to 
sustain the charge on inferential grounds. That the charge rests wholly on an inferen- 
tial basis, is believed to be beyond dispute. This is, probably, made up from an un- 
founded allegation, that the Republican party are abolitionists. _ 

An abolitionist, is one who desires the abolition of something. He may desire the 
abolition of slavery, or, he may desire the abolition of freedom, or it may be something 
else, that is obnoxious to him, and he desires that it may be abolished. In either case he 
is an abolitionist. In the political parlance of the present day, an abolitionist is one who 
desires that the authority of the general government shall be exercised to interfere with, 
and suppress African slavery in the slave states, without the consent of those states in 
which it exists by state authority. That we have some men in these states holding this 
opinion, there can be no doubt. Nor is there any doubt that their numbers are exceed- 
ingly small, as has been demonstrated by every canvass of votes that has been hitherto 
made. They have been able to make but very few converts from the great mass of our 
citizens, who do not approve of African slavery, and it is abundantly evident that no po- 
litical party, acting on this basis, would make appreciable progress in the free states 
towards obtaining political power. The sentiment, that each state has the right and the 
responsibility of regulating its own institutions, is one of general prevalence, and unquali- 
fiedly acknowledged by most men, who regard the institution of African slavery, or any 
other slavery, as wrong in principle and inexpedient in practice. It may be, that some 
abolitionists will vote for the Democratic Republican candidates, on the principle that if 
they cannot prevent slavery in the slave states, they will do what they can to prevent its 
introduction into free territory. As a political party, the abolitionists have declared 
against the Democratic Republican party, and made independent nominations. We are 
compelled, therefore, to come to the conclusion, that there exists no evidence whatever, 
which could lead a sensible, impartial mind to believe that the Democratic Republican 
party have any other view than to maintain the Union and the constitutional _ rights of 
every state. The charges that the Democratic Republican party are abolitionists, in 
the offensive political meaning of the term, is mere partizan slang, more convenient for 
the authors than to meet their principles in manly argument. 



12 

Who, then, are in favor of dissolving the Union ? The Buchanan democracy and Mr 
Fillmore say. it wiU I I if the Republicans are successful. If so, it must be bv 

"."" r ioattoc Republican. In a late number of a prominent Bu- 

chanan paper- (Ki.-hmond Enquirer)— it was assumed, that on the election of Mr Fre- 
bad to forma southern Confederacy, and the lines or bound- 
180 ut hern half of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, and exprcss- 
Dco that Pennsylvania would come into the southern confederacy Many other 
. the partisans of the Buchanan democracy might be quoted to show 
! - ,hl < threatenii lution; but these would only be cumulative 

quoted is sufficiently expressive, and coming from hi-di authoritv 

■ to who are the authors of the threatened dissolution. T^e Buchanan 

by their organs, declare, that if the Democratic Republican party 

on wUl be dissolved. But the Democratic Republican party win not 

: even authorize aueb threatening. The threatening of 

*J 6Bacha i ■•"""•«■ partiesmust be construed to mean, if it means anything that 

parties will dissolv, the Union if a majority of the electors should rote for Fremont 

Will th- Buchanan party insist on having the democratic name, and still threaten to 

breakdown » tune-honored and essential principle of democracy, that the constitutional 

ol And do they threaten dissolution, and the overthrow of this 

t, if they areleft in a minority, and cannot control it I This seems to be the 

plan, asset forth in the article referred to in the Richmond Enquirer, which is the only 

p in which the particular manner is set forth in distinct terms In 

roue instances the threatening and warning are set forth as a result, to follow the 

atic Republican party, but no particular course or manner of pro- 

"**"« h ;" ■ IjewheM stated. The Richmond Enquirer comes boldly to the 

■ dom ol Kansas is the acknowledged trouble, and we have it now pre- 
sented in distinct tenia, that the essential object of the Buchanan democracy is, to dis- 

U that Bbould be necessary to make Kansas a slave State, this is the 
»«fdation of the threatening The Democratic Republican party have claimed no secrecy 
"" ' > declare themselves in favor of freedom in Kansas; and if they succeed 

to the government, they will, no <loubt, take care to restore to that territory the ballot 
box, and shield it from ruthless invaders. They will stop the civil war and rule of vio- 
lence that n< s our government, and tramplea the men and the principles of free- 
dom underfoot. They will clear marauders from the highways of the nation and bid 
her cit.zens to pass peacefully, as in the days when freedom held her empire in our land 
nor ask the traveller whether he oomes from a free or a slave State, or a foreign country' 
They will annul the laws forced upon Kansas by violence— laws that would disgrace 
Naples a-laws enacted, not by the people of Kansas, but by armed invaders 
from Miasouri-and, 1 1 — teUit not in Gath," supported by a pretended democratic ad- 
mumtraUon! They will establif h laws suitable for freemen, and open the fair plains of 
Kansas to settlers from all the States in this Union. They will pfacticallv restore tlnl 
™° un ■""* lh "s defeat the vile measure designed to wrench that fair 
territory from the hardy sons of honest toil. 

dang< . to the [Jnion, if any, is to come from the slave oligarchy. To the friends 

we must look for its safety. Oligarchies are ever struggling to extend their 

-freemen are content to enjoy their own. The former represent the Buchanan 

ocratic Republicans. The impending contest betwe" 

Thing interest. The elements of oppression are marshaling with a 

-Id will test severely the elements now called info Iclion 

untain the glorious principles of Democratic freedom. The freemen in the slave 

I cannot act ; will the free States be equal to the emergency I 

^,7 ak " •'•"- v '' esfreedoml Let not a ballot be lost. Oppression aid mV 

rulei.uponu. Organize thoroughly while we have the power, and roll back the tide 

that would crush our rights and destroy freedom throughout this broad land. The hopes 

™?> ' "' U ■ d : ""' 1 "'"' r f "'- < h * unrestricted right to life, liberty and the pur- 

inahenable rights of men. Up, men, fur freedom! " I.e. no party 

Sii?lV. 00 / 0m ii hem f ,ne l? t ? UB ," M, ° ; Iet D0th "« ,tft y vuur h»od, until ourOoi 
r l '!, u,: r « d to the beaut; in which aur fathers left it- when the 

halls of to. . fh» arena •/ debate and not of the Wudyeon. 

Vm tembcr, 1856. Hamtdev, 

I 14C 






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